Bob Foster is an obvious example. Any other tall boxers who regularly fought in close and did so well?
It's a brief clip of a knockout loss while way past prime, but there's nothing in the footage of Wills against Uzcudun to suggest that Harry was ever anything but a mauling, power oriented infighter, meeting the barrel chested Basque head-on, and digging in body shots. (Earlier footage of Wills would be extremely helpful here.) Footage of Buddy Baer likewise doesn't show jabbing, mobility and control of distance. He looks like his aim was largely to steamroll opponents with size and power. (This sets him apart from brother Max, who actually could jab, retreat and counter effectively, along with winning over the 20 round distance and taking a much better shot than Buddy.) Willard didn't have much of a hook, but his uppercuts could make up for it. He actually did have his moments in Toledo after the torrid first round, and the right uppercut up the middle was responsible for some of that. Arguello was not a man to be messed with on the inside. He ripped apart Elizondo and Mancini at close quarters, and Pryor had to go outside to get the job done. Manila saw Ali produce a career's worth of inside punching, repeatedly spinning and bouncing Frazier's head with hooks and uppercuts as Joe slowly bore his way into the corners after Muhammad, and I don't think the GOAT ever got the credit for adapting the way he did after Padilla took away his characteristic neck holding tactics, forcing Ali to punch his way to a win in the trenches against the supreme infighting monster of all modern heavyweights.
Good examples so far. Perhaps the most interesting example, because he was much more effective in close than on the outside. I think it was because of his t-rex arms and lack of a good outside defence.
Not only an infighter, he was more than that, very versatile......But Eder Jofre was a tall BW and used effectively infighting abilities many times.......
Larry Holmes. He dropped Mike Weaver while fighting out of a corner, years later as an old man he beat Ray Mercer inside. Holmes stood 6'-4" or 6'-3", depending on the source.
Also Michael Spinks. He beat the tar out of a lot of guys inside, notably Eddie Mustafa Muhammad (not such a bad beating) and Ramon Ranquello (a bad beating!).
Truth. Ali's short left hook is his signature punch in the fight, in my view. He out left hooked Joe Frazier in several key rounds. It was the one punch he seemingly could not miss with, and undoubtedly gave Joe a ton of trouble.
